Group Submission                         Saturday 2nd December 2023

Please submit electronically on Moodle. If there is a problem, contact me.

Marks Contribution

This coursework will contribute 50% towards your final mark for the module. The work will be marked from 100% and this will be weighted to determine the final mark.

Objectives

Your task is to create a specification document for a site and to implement a proof-of-concept site.

The site design is to provide solution for a realistic scenario that requires choices between internet technologies and implementation strategies. The documentation must be detailed, structured and  cover aspects discussed in class.  The proof of concept will be a working web app which illustrates   the operation of a significant part of the design.

You may use any appropriate technology to implement the site and you are not restricted to using the MEARN stack or Docker containerisation.

Note: Your solution must be original with code storedon GitHub and deployed on the internet.

Working in Pairs

Although the coursework is intended to be developed in pairs, individual submissions will be accepted, but no allowance can be given for solitary efforts. Exceptionally the site may be developed by three persons if even pairings are not possible.

The Scenario

[This scenario is fictitious. Do not contact any real organisations involved.]

Your employer is a software house that has been invited to submit a tender for the provision of web services to support a book review club.

Your company is keen that a solution for a specific festival will have a generic pattern which can be easily applied to other potential customers.

You may design a site to support a realor fictional book review club of your own choice and use this as a model for your design documentation and your proof-of-concept site.

The competition will require as a minimum: A description of the scope and context of the club, biographical details of key figures, the ability to register as an administrator and submit book    descriptions, the ability as a member of the club to contribute reviews.

The club could be focussed on any type of book, or genre, including childrens literature, travel and fiction of any genre.  If you know of a real book club on your community or personal interests, you may decide to produce a site for a real application.  However, though it is always valuable to make something useful, interaction with a real client is outside the scope of the module assessment.

You should review a range of book review apps at different scales to suggest ideas for your own site.

Your boss is keen to get a site specification as an internal document with a proof-of-concept site which could be shown to potential clients.

Originality

You should attempt to create afresh approach that is original and impresses your superiors (you  might imagine you work a small design company). You may of course exchange ideas with other   groups and seek assistance from teaching staff, but directly plagiarised documents or designs will attract a penalty.

Joint Signatures

In the (unlikely) event of members of a group disagreeing as to the relative weight of their

contributions, each group member is required to sign to what they believe is theirs and their

partner's percentage contribution to the work. The module coordinator will have regard to this in allocating a marks weighting and this will be highlighted to the moderator and external examiner.

Normally members will be adjudged to have contributed equally, although not necessarily in the

same area, signatures are not required in this case. By contrast, if the group agrees that one has

contributed less than the other, say 25% of their possible contribution, then that member signs to a 25% effort,while the other member signs to a 75% contribution. Marks allocated to individuals will  be weighted accordingly.

Demonstration

Each group will be asked to explain their understanding of their work in a short (15 minutes or so)  informal online meeting during normal lab time.  You are not expected to have a completed site at this point.  This is an opportunity to receive verbal feedback on your progress.

Documentation

The site specification for this coursework should be based on the following structure:

Table of Contents

Section headings (auto generated)

Table of figures (auto generated)

Introduction

Restate the scenario with details of your selected competition theme

Overview

Give an overview of the app function you envisage bearing in mind the following points.

Background

•    Review the data sources your app will use

o Public, Private, Licenced

o APIs

o User input

•    Review features of competitive web apps picking out common core features and useful advanced features

Core Functions

•    Focusing onto the services which are essential to the apps function consider:

o What makes the proposed app relevant/distinctive?

o What business processes needed

o Consider integration with existing services

o What profile information is required? Where will it be stored?

o Development time and cost

o Will the proposed app meet the brief?

Advanced Functions

State what features you regard as the basic core of the app which would be essential in an initial launch version of the app.  Identify further advanced features which could be

developed over a longer timescale after initial launch.

•    Planned features to be added after the app has launched

•    What group are these for and what value do they add

•    How does the app need to change to accommodate these?

•    International aspects

Data Protection

What features in the app design and implementation will allow it to comply with GDPR?

•    GDPR features

•    Nature of personal data

•    Design for consent

•    Users can see their own personal data

•    Processing and Deletion of Data

•    Data security

•    Authentication

Implementation

User Interface

Describe the site layout and show some wireframes of typical pages

•    Sketch what the apps UI would look like for data entry

•    Sketch the verification response to data entry

•    Sketch what the apps UI would look like for content display

•    Consider the view for all user groups

•    Discuss design tools used to mock-up the interface

Technology Stack

Describe the technology stack you propose to use for the app. This may bea MERN stack,    but you are free to use other technologies, particularly those which you researched in CW1

•     What technologies are appropriate to use in the stack and justify a choice

o  Client software

o  Servers

o  Database

o  Storage

o  Plugin

o  Other

Data organisation

Provide an outline of what database tables/collections will be needed.

•    What is the schema within these tables?

•    What relations exist between tables and fields?

•    Diagrams

How will an API be arranged to access the data? Give some examples.

•    What UI forms will generate queries?

•    Are queries using SQL, REST or GraphQL?

•    Has the design process been supported by mock servers?

Hosting

Services

What services would you propose using to host the app. Describe some of the features of the service and state how costs are calculated.

•    Single server (Apache, Nginx, IIS), multiple server, virtual server, platform as a service, load balanced cluster

•    Distribution of data

•    Consider the benefits of cloud services

o  Compare available services

o  Features and costs

o  Ease of use

Scalability

What factors (in general terms) may affectscalability if usage grows overtime?  Can your hosting solution handle this?

•    What aspects of the app might cause saleability issues overtime?

•    Number of users

•    Amount of data

•    Strategies: more servers, microservices

•    Cost implications

Tracking and statistics

Briefly state what features your host may provide for tracking site usage.

•    Usage and flow through the site

•    What is valid to be tracked and what should not be tracked

Conclusions

All reports must draw conclusions. Yours should say why your approach to the brief is the most appropriate.

References

All references must use Harvard format and be cited in the text following the UWS referencing guide.

A proof-of-concept site should be made. This does not need to have all the features mentioned in your report, but it should be available online. It should just convince the client of your ability to deliver what you are offering.